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Regaining tighter steering.


Guest RedCutlassSL

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Guest RedCutlassSL

When I was driving that GTP today, I noticed how much firmer the steering was than in my car. What do I have to adjust/replace/whatever to get that feeling back in my steering.

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It's odd, but every GP that I've driven has a tighter steering than a lumina or my cutlass (which is easy as hell to turn).

Maybe it's a difference in the rack and pinions?

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I think they changed something around 95 because every 95 and newer W-Body I have driven steers differently than my 91 Cutlass. Steering seems tighter and for lack of a better word smoother, the ride seems smoother too. I dunno, maybe I am nuts, LOL

 

Jason

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Different w-bodies can have different ratio steering racks. The sportier models got the smaller ratio (less turns of the wheel end to end) while base models got larger ratios...there's 3 to choose from. I went from highest to "mid" and it's about probably how it felt on that GTP....the older w bodies got the small ratio one like the Grand prix se's 88-89, Cutlass intl 88-89 etc

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So the older W-bodies are the ones that turn tighter and stiffer? That one 89 GP I drove (the one with a butt load of miles) had some tight steering. It made flying around the curves feel like it was built to do just that. It hugged them perfectly. My cutlass on the other hand, it's so easy to turn the wheel, and I don't care for that too much. But there's probably not a lot that I can do about it, lol.

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The older W-bodies have stiffer steering for certain!

My '89 Cutlass and '90 GP Turbo both have very stiff steering. The 94 convertible on the other hand, I can steer it one-handed from lock to lock (impossible in the other two cars).

 

The GP's with B4U have quicker-ratio steering which means it takes fewer turns of the wheel to get from lock to lock. The quicker ratio rack is not without drawbacks, however. It has a larger turning radius.

 

So you have to decide whether you'd rather have a smaller turning radius, or quicker ratio. Can't have both. If you have the slower ratio rack, there's really no way to reduce the turning radius. The turning radius is pretty much on-par with cars of this size and wheelbase. To decrease the radius would require fancy tricks like rear wheel steering.

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